Shageluk

Location - Shageluk Lake

Shageluk is a traditional Deg Xinag Athabaskan community that has been on the Innoko River for countless generations. It is the last village on the river and is surrounded by boreal forest. Shageluk is a subsistence community that relies on the moose, beaver, fish, etc. of the region. Native residents have observed changes in the river/lake ice freeze-up and break-up dates as well as changes in vegetation. For example, more willow and other deciduous trees grow on the Innoko hills and along the river and sloughs than 30 years ago.

The Shageluk observatory was located on Shageluk Lake (also known as "Swimming Lake"), about 4 km north of the village and close to the airstrip. Shageluk Lake was once a channel of the Innoko River that was cut off as the river shifted course, as all rivers tend to do in this region.

An aerial view of the"old" Shageluk, Alaska with the airstrip at the top of the image. The area where the ALISON site was located is indicated by the red asterisk.

An aerial view of Shageluk, Alaska.

People

The Shageluk Lake observatory was operated by Joy Hamilton and her high school class at Innoko River School (home of the Raiders [wolverines, a member of the weasel family]). The school houses all grade levels and Joy has taught elementary, middle and high school classes during the 23 years that she has worked there.

Apart from one year in Grayling, located on the west bank of the Yukon River and a 90 minute snowmachine ride to the north-west of Shageluk, Joy has always taught at Innoko River School. Originally from Minnesota (good preparation for life in Alaska), Joy has participated in the Alaska GLOBE Program and the Cornell University Feeder Watch program.

Joy Hamilton (purple sweater) and her high school class at Innoko River School.

Joy says, "We drive 2.5 miles to our study site by snowmachine and/or school truck to Shageluk Lake which is our swimming lake, located next to Shageluk Old Village which is one of the original sites of Shageluk residents. People moved from there in 1967 because of flooding on the Innoko River. The swimming lake is great in the summer for swimming with gradual sloping depth, nice sandy bottom, clear water and beautiful scenery. It’s close enough to Shageluk to be easily accessible for us and isolated enough to not be in the middle of Shageluk snowmachine traffic. It’s a great spot for our ALISON study."

Village elder Rudi Hamilton uses his chainsaw to cut a slot in the ice prior to installation of the hot-wire ice thickness gauge.

The observatory was set up on 21 January 2003, a bright sunny day with a moderate breeze and air temperature of about ­10°C. It was delightful weather to be working outside in for five hours. The average ice thickness, determined by drilling 21 holes by hand (yes, by hand), was 0.57 m, and the average snow depth was 0.12 m. Fortunately, Rudi Hamilton’s chainsaw had a bar that was long enough to cut through the ice so that the hot-wire ice thickness gauge could be installed.

Data

Download data for these graphs and other ALISON data.